It doesn’t matter where you are on your business journey, whether you’re a Sole Trader in the Seed Stage of your business, or you’re driving a multi-million dollar organisation, having a mentor, a Business Coach who can look at your situation objectively, is vital to positive growth in your business.
So, how do you find a Business Coach? Why is business coaching important? And is business coaching right for you? Read on to find out more.
5 Signs You Need A Business Coach
Did you start your business to gain freedom only to be working in the business every hour of every day? Do you know that your business could scale beyond what it is right now, but you're stuck with sales and marketing and have hit a plateau in growth? Or are you struggling with operational success and leadership within your team? Ask yourself these questions, and see if these signs below sound like you. If they do, you might need a Business Coach.
1. You are overwhelmed
The workday doesn’t end when the door shuts. If you’re working from home then your business feels like it goes on all day, all the time. You’re answering emails on the weekend, you’re worried about stock and marketing inquiries late on a Sunday night.
If you can’t switch off, if every waking thought is about your business, then you need some help to separate work and life by scaling your business to a point where it can work without you.
2. Business has reached a capacity
No matter how many hours you put into your business, it just won’t grow. You've tried everything and you physically, or mentally, cannot do more for your business. You just don’t know how you can make more money or find more time t grow it to the level you know it can get to.
3. No clear path forward
You’ve had your nose to the grindstone so long that you don’t know how you can do things differently, do things better. You feel stuck with where your business is heading and you can't see your vision clearly anymore.
4. Not up-to-date with business strategies
Have you been working on your business for a while, but not sure what else you can do to take it to the next level? You’re not sure what your competitors are doing, but they’re doing it well, and you need to catch up or beat them?
Are there any new Government grants available for small businesses? Changes to GST or other things you’re just not aware of?
5. Need to develop new skills
You know that you want to grow your business, and to do that you need to learn new things, new ways of thinking and doing such as:
- New ways to market yourself through segmenting your database
- How to get yourself into a seller’s mindset
- How to follow up on sales calls without seeming to be pushy
- Or even learning the 10% rule of sales
These skills can all be learned through our exclusive 22 Strategies To Increase your Sales short course. Follow the link to find out more.
How To Find The Right Business Coach
So, you've realised that you might just need some help in your business to grow your business into a scalable, sustainable business that can work beyond you. What should you do next to get help? Keep reading to find out.
Use your network
It’s hard to be in business alone, so it's important to find a network of like-minded people. You have friends and family out there who could be a support or an ear to talk to in hard times. This could even include professionals, networking groups, or business events with local councils. You can join their support network or even quiz these people, find out how they became successful in business and what helped them make it happen.
The great thing about networking is people know people. We often take advice from our friends, so why not ask if they know other people who have walked the path before you? Does someone you know have a connection to a business coach? Have they had a good experience and would recommend it? Or was it not the best and they warn you to avoid it?
Check out their recommendations, do some research, and see if it is the right fit for you too.
Ask for referrals from other businesses
You can look to the success of other businesses around you. Whether it's through a podcast interview they've done or a coffee meetup you've asked them directly, find out how they became successful, and the type of people that have helped them along the way. If they mention a business coach, ask for the details of that coach and make an inquiry.
Research online
Once you have spoken to your network of friends and colleagues, got the word from some businesses around you, don't forget to turn to the internet and do some research too.
Be specific in your research. Some business coaches have niched for specific industries, some work for large coaching organisations, and others work for themselves. The coaches may offer purely online delivery or some face-to-face work.
Find a coach that fits what YOU need in a delivery framework. There are many types to choose from, so take your time to find what works for you.
What To Expect From A Business Coach
What should you be looking for when choosing from your list of Business Coaches from referrals or your own research? If you’ve never experienced working with a Business Coach before, what should you expect?
Experience
There are different kinds of experience you could expect from a Business Coach.
- They either have many years of experience running a successful business – check for Social Proof.
- They have many years of experience as a Business Coach with successful clients – ask for Case Studies (see below).
- Or they are new to Business Coaching but have all the right characteristics and attitude – are they energetic and ready to go?
Ask yourself, which type of experience do you feel comfortable working with and think will be able to help you the most?
Resources
What else does your Business Coach offer you? Do they have the resources of a big organisation behind them? Do they have some online training you can do to supplement their one-on-one? Or do they offer downloadable content you can read at your leisure?
Tailored roadmap
It's vital to make sure that your Business Coach has your best interests at heart. While you can join in on group sessions and read some general theory on business success, it's important to get tailored coaching based on your stage of business.
One way a Business Coach can do that is through a tailored roadmap. This is something they should be giving you after an initial analysis of your business's current position and future goals.
This roadmap is a way for you both to be accountable. The Business Coach will use it as a way to move you towards goals, and you will use it to check in with your Business Coach.
It is also up to you to stick to this map. Your Business Coach can give you all the help possible, but if you don’t take this advice and utilise it, then it is only you who loses out.
Case studies
If a Business Coach can show you past examples of their successes, then it shows you that they know what they’re talking about and that they can help you too. See if you can even get the chance to speak to their past or current clients. This reaches back to the first item about reaching out to your network. Personal recommendations carry a lot of positive weight.
Credentials
Never settle for second best - you want to vet your Business Coach properly and make sure they have the right experience and credentials to give you qualified advice about your business. Has your Business Coach got any tertiary qualifications? Do they have any experience running a business themselves? Have they been endorsed by The Entourage? You have a right to know these things, and a good Business Coach will be proud of their credentials rather than steer the conversation around them.
The Entourage’s Approach To Business Coaching
If anything you’ve just read resonated with you, if you’ve got that feeling in your gut that you need change, you want to grow, either your business or yourself and you need guidance in doing so, The Entourage can absolutely help you.
We fundamentally believe that building a business is a skill. With the right guidance, strategies, and mindset, anyone can make it happen. We have business coaching and training programs to help business owners at every level:
- Elevate: this is Australia's only business coaching and advisory program exclusively for 7 and 8-figure business owners. With a dedicated Business Coach by your side and the support of 32 additional Expert Partners and the wider Elevate Community, you'll build your business in a way that can successfully grow beyond you, becoming a more capable, skilled, and effective entrepreneur along the way
- Accelerate: our business coaching and training program for business owners who want to accelerate their growth from 6 to 7 figures. With a whole team of Business Coaches, plus a global community of entrepreneurs and other business specialists by your side, you'll get access to a comprehensive training program that's been refined and perfected over the past 10+ years.
- Fast Track: get 100% online access to the world's best entrepreneurs, experts, and business coaches to start, run, and grow a profitable business. This is where you get to learn anywhere, at any time, and at your own pace.
If you're ready to grow your business and grow yourself, get in touch with us at The Entourage today to see how we can help you. We offer business coaching in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney.
